PwC managing partner Richard Buski said: ‘We hope we’re at the end of it. These decisions are pretty definitive.’

In May, Browder, of Hermitage Capital Management Fund, filed the lawsuits asking the court to uphold his belief that PwC presented audit reports that allegedly ‘contradicted the facts’.

Hermitage also filed a demand with the Russian Ministry of Finance that PwC’s licence to audit be suspended. But, last month Gazprom’s board recommended that shareholders vote to retain PwC as the company’s auditor at their annual general meeting scheduled for 28 June 2002.

When the suit was filed, Buski of PwC in Russia said: ‘We stand behind all our audits of Gazprom and will continue to do so in the future.’